Re: [HoE] Wasted West Archetypes:The Kid.

[deadlander@juno.com (Templar Simon)]

I asked:

>Does anyone out there seriously play these >archtypes for>more than an
adventure or >two (or for laughs at a con)?  I'm just >wondering.
>  

On Sat, 28 Nov 1998 13:43:36 EST CSASgt@aol.com writes:

>Actually, I do in several games.  My most prominant is a child 
>assassin in a>Vampire game (Assamite antitribu), he became a vampire
during the >war >for>Israel independence.  gets harrassed>due to his
seeming age, even though >he is older than other vampires.

Um..I was asking if anyone played the 6 year old, "Momma, that guy's got
no skin!", snot-nosed kid.  Not the 1000 year old Methuselah (sp?) type.
;p  

Different responder:

>Actually, yeah, I play children a lot.  However, I do dislike the
playing of kids as "kids," >they should have just as much depth as a
normal character.

Again not the type of character that I was asking if people played. 
Being a big fan of Changeling and a long-time ROLEPLAYER I have done my
share of playing younger characters.  However, there is a difference
between playing an adolescent or teen and playing a 6 year old that
doesn't know how to reload that gun she's carrying and thinks the coolest
things in the world are "horsies".  

Changeling lends itself to playing young characters (and even children)
because your characters really do exist in a fairy-tale world (some of
the time anyway) that caters to walking talking stuffed-tigers and
children in positions of authority.

And yet another response:

>The Kid archetype is not only prevalent in many mythical structures,
fairy
>tales, and more modern fiction, it also has several places within RPGs. 
Many
>people enjoy playing younger characters because they like to approach
the game
>with a more innocent viewpoint.  And *yes*, I have seen a lot of people
choose
>these archetypes because they *want* to play them.  And trust me, when
you've
>got an entire group full of macho lesbian chainmail-bra-clad battle
babes
>being played by testosterone-starved keyboard-jockeys, someone who wants
to
>play a character that isn't directly involved with the "Who can do the
most
>damage/kill the most things" contests that some RPGs devolve into can be
a
>welcome breath of fresh air.

I can tell that I am VERY  lucky that I have been able to mold my gaming
group over the past 8 years into something other than macho lesbian
chainmail-bra-clad battle babes (except for my wife who seems to enjoy
these types of characters, well, except for the lesbian part :).  I am
painfully aware of the prevalence of annoying children-types in much of
the contemporary media.  Especially, anime (the Mint type of character
from Mospaeda (sp?) and movies (the Ewoks).  For some reason these
inexperienced, immature, and sometimes primitive small-people always seem
to outsmart or outfight the surrounding grownups.

Well, I seem to have put my foot in the Brahmin Goo this time, eh?  My
original question was somewhat tongue-in-cheek and not intended to offend
anyone or start any arguments.  I apologize to anyone that I may have
offended.  It just seems that much of today's media has these
super-genius children that act totally immature on one hand and outwit
corporate moguls or brilliant scientists on the other hand.  Not to
mention the cute kids that stay "home alone" or the primitive teddy-bears
that seem to be able to outfight adults and elite military troops.  It
just seems a little to implausible to me.

In my 17 years as DM, GM, Referee, Marshal, whatever I have yet to see a
player that doesn't get tired of the limitation of role-playing a 6 year
old (unless ALL the PCs are Changeling children and you can tailor the
campaign to them) within an adventure or two.  They usually ask me if
they can age the child to an acceptable age (a la "soap opera time
dilation") or change to an older character.  

For those of you out there that can continually play a pre-pubescent in
an adult RPG I tip my hat to you.  You are obviously a better ROLE-PLAYER
than me and mine.

Good Gaming

Templar Simon

BTW  Has anyone else noticed that the Kid archetype has more wind than
any of the templates in Wasted West except the Pit Fighter and (given a
few chips) could outshoot anyone in the book except the Ren BH and the
Witch (and I KNOW that she could outshoot the Templar from the main book
and probably most of the templates there also)?  Heaven forbid that she
should get her hands on a rifle and decide to be a sniper.  Not to
mention the fact that she should be called "Iron Guts Susie" with a
higher guts rating than ANYONE in the templates section.  

___________________________________________________________________
You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail.
Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html
or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866]